By Jessica Hoover, Ag & Natural Resources Agent, WVUES Pendleton County
The ice and snow that recently covered Pendleton County and much of West Virginia has now left mud behind. As we move into spring, muddy conditions will continue periodically with winter thaws and spring showers. While mud may be a nuisance for us, it can significantly impact livestock health and performance, as well as soil and pasture health.
Why Managing Mud Matters.
Just as mud makes it harder for us to walk and move around, it increases the energy livestock use to move around the field or lot. This means increased energy requirements for basic maintenance during muddy conditions. Additionally, mud will flatten the animal’s coat, reducing their ability to effectively insulate themselves, further increasing their energy demand to stay warm, and continue basic bodily functions. However, mud presents a double-edged sword. Livestock require more energy, yet they often consume less because moving to feed and water requires additional effort. Research shows that dry matter intake can decrease 8-15 percent at 4-8 inches of mud, and reductions may reach 30 percent when mud is a foot deep.
Muddy, wet conditions create the ideal conditions for pathogens in the soil or contaminated feeds. In livestock areas, mud is rarely just soil. It’s typically a combination of mud and manure, which adds to the presence of bacteria. Clostridium bacteria, which are responsible for diseases such as black leg, overeating disease, listeria, and others, are commonly found in soil and manure. Vaccines exist to protect against many of the common clostridium species. Additionally, the bacteria responsible for foot rot or foot scald are also commonly found in wet, muddy conditions.
Calving in these conditions can provide an additional challenge for producers. In muddy conditions, newborn calves are less able to insulate themselves if they are wet and muddy, less likely to achieve adequate colostrum intake, and more likely to be exposed to bacteria. This translates to increased instances of hypothermia, decreased transfer of antibodies from cow to calf, and increased likelihood of disease. Regularly checking cattle during calving season can allow early intervention, which increases the likelihood that calves will recover from or avoid these issues.
The health of your soil and pastures is another issue that is the most visible to us during muddy conditions. High traffic areas such as feeders, waterers, and gates, receive the brunt of this damage. When livestock use these areas during wet conditions, there is a higher likelihood of increased soil compaction, reduced drainage, and increased bare soil areas. Research shows that spring pasture productivity can be reduced up to 50-65% as a result of damage from a wet winter. For reference, the foot pressure of a standing cow is just shy of double the pounds per square inch of a 50-ton bulldozer. Most of the prime farmland in Pendleton County has a load carrying capacity (in psi) that is half the foot pressure of a standing cow.
What you can do?
While there unfortunately isn’t a magic solution to dry up all the mud on your farm while retaining the necessary moisture, there are ways to mitigate the damage caused by mud. Creating feeding areas with gravel or concrete footing is ideal, but is not always practical. Creating a “sacrifice area” where livestock can be confined and fed during wet conditions protects other areas from damage. This is particularly successful if that area is a higher sloped area that allows for drainage, or tillable come spring, such as cornfields or other harvested areas. The goal with these areas is to decrease damage to the majority of fields, by allowing most of the damage to occur in these areas.
When conditions are wet, rotating feeding lower quality hay with high quality hay is also recommended, as the waste can be used for bedding in feeding areas. Rotational grazing is also a recommended grazing strategy to allow adequate ground cover, and in turn reduce the damage caused during the wet months.
Mud is an expected part of the transition from winter to spring, but the effects should not be overlooked. Its effect on both livestock and soil-health can carry measurable consequences for producers. While we cannot control the weather, we can control how we respond to it.
For more information or assistance, contact the extension office at 304-358-2286.
